D'Alvimar

“ That poor princess had appeared to her, as it were, to make the reply which D'Alvimar was seeking, and that reply was as follows:
"A maiden who has never loved sometimes accepts rashly the first love that presents itself, because she feels impatient to love, and sometimes she falls into the arms of a knave who tortures her, wrecks her life and deserts her."
D'Alvimar was far from suspecting the curious warning that that young heart had received; he fancied that she was indulging in a bit of coquetry, and the game attracted him, although his heart was as cold as marble. ”

“ I should always be afraid of a man who conceals about his person a weapon so easy to handle and so prompt to kill; and as this one does not seem to be of great value, I ask you to sacrifice it to me, by way of reparation for the pain you have caused me."
D'Alvimar thought that in thus disarming him she intended to caress him. Nevertheless, it cost him a pang to part with so trusty a weapon, and he hesitated.
"I see," said Lauriane, "that it is a gift from some fair dame whom you are not at liberty to disobey." ”

“ But she replied with a smile, not seeking to defend herself with unnecessarily stern words:
"I was not thinking of anything."
"That is impossible," rejoined D'Alvimar; "one is always thinking of something or somebody."
"But we think vaguely, so vaguely that in a moment we have forgotten."
Lauriane did not speak truly. She had been thinking of Charlotte d'Albret, and we will translate all that had passed through her mind in that brief reverie. ”

“ D'Alvimar would have been glad of a different result of the discussion, for his incredulity was only feigned; he believed that the devil had a hand in all evil, and he determined inwardly to commend La Flèche to the attention of Monsieur Poulain, to be locked up and burned at the first opportunity. But he was none the less consumed, in spite of himself, with anxiety to open the book of his destiny, and he was strongly impelled, moreover, to assume the rôle of a man free from superstitions, before Madame de Beuvre. ”

“ At that time D'Alvimar had renounced the hope of winning her favor, and perhaps he, too, in his rancorous heart called her balorda, although for the first time she had given proof of good sense by bestowing her confidence—and it was said her heart—upon Armand Duplessis. There was a rival whom D'Alvimar could hardly hope to outshine! Moreover, the queen, under Richelieu's guidance, adopted the policy of Henry IV. and Sully. ”

“ Of course you have frequented the blue salon of Arthenice?" [8]
D'Alvimar was able to reply that he was received by the marchioness, without departing from the truth. His wit and his learning had thrown open to him the doors of the fashionable Parnassus; but he had acquired no footing there, his intolerance having made itself manifest too soon in that sanctuary of French urbanity.
Moreover he had little taste for the literary sheepfold. The ambition of the age was consuming him, and the pastoral, which is the ideal of repose and unostentatious leisure, was not at all in his line. ”

“ Let me reassure you on that point. I do not hold your nation responsible for the degradation of a few. There are infamous villains everywhere. If I speak bitterly of those who robbed me of a brother, you must pardon me."
D'Alvimar apologized in his turn for his sensitiveness, and begged the marquis to continue his narrative.
"It was about a league from the hamlet of Urdoz that my brother and his wife found themselves entirely alone on a rocky road skirting a very deep precipice. ”

“ So that D'Alvimar eyed the two vagrants with calm contempt, and fancied that he had discovered at last the commonplace explanation of his repugnance for them.
He joined in the conversation.
"Monsieur le marquis," he said, "if you will permit me to retire, I am sure that with a little money you will make this varlet talk all you desire. It is possible that he is a Christian child stolen by this Moor, for I have no question as to her nationality. However, you are much mistaken, if you think that the color of the skin is a certain sign. ”

“ The housekeeper had told the rector, who had put D'Alvimar on his guard by a note thus conceived:
"You have, in the person of your host, a rival with whom you can amuse yourself; make the most of the opportunity."
D'Alvimar laughed in his sleeve at the idea of rivalry from such a quarter; his plan was to attack the young lady's heart at once. Little he cared for her father's approval. He thought that, if he were once in control of Lauriane's feelings, there would be no difficulty about the rest.
Bois-Doré reasoned differently. ”

“ I am ambitious only to serve the Church, and, in order to be of use, one must bow to the necessity of keeping oneself in view."
"This little priestling is shrewder than I am," said D'Alvimar to himself; "he knows enough to wait until he is in a favorable position to fire on the enemy ”

“ That gentleman's own tranquillity could be assured, at the price of this marriage. D'Alvimar understood the hint, promised the rector to consider the matter seriously and give him an answer two days later, since, as it happened, he was to pass the following day at Madame de Beuvre's.
The bell on the château announced the marquis's dinner. Monsieur d'Alvimar took leave of the priest who had caused him to think more hopefully of his destiny, and retraced his steps to the manor. ”

“ While D'Alvimar continued to argue vehemently, and the marquis to listen with entire tranquillity, Adamas, anxious concerning the result of the affair, had spoken to Guillaume's men upon his own authority. He had told them all that he knew, and they had sworn that in case Monsieur d'Ars should feel compelled to order them to defend Monsieur D'Alvimar against the Bois-Doré party, they would only pretend to fight, and would leave the field clear for anybody whose right it was, to deal out justice to the assassins. ”

“ At that period Monsieur d'Alvimar was very young, and so poor that he doubted whether he could pay the expenses of his journey to Paris, where he hoped to find patrons. He was ambitious; that is a great sin, I know, monsieur le marquis. It is the most dangerous bait that Satan holds forth. Sancho inspired and nourished that infernal ambition in his son. ”

“ Let me fight With him."
"With an old man and a madman? I cannot permit it."
"Come, come, Guillaume," exclaimed Bois-Doré, impatiently, "are you ready now to let me avenge my wrongs, and must I do Monsieur d'Alvimar the honor of striking him, in order to rouse him?"
"We are at your service, monsieur," replied D'Alvimar, shrugging his shoulders. "Come, my dear fellow," he said in a low tone to Guillaume, "you see that it must be! Don't be afraid! I will soon bring this old automaton to reason, and I promise you to strike his sword out of his hand as many times as you please. ”

“ A duel is what you seek, and your wish shall be gratified."
"No! a hundred times no!" cried Guillaume. "Let us have done with this; and as nothing more is necessary than to tell the marquis your name to induce him to withdraw in peace, I——"
"I beg you not to forget," interposed D'Alvimar, "that you expose me——"
"No! my cousin is too honorable a man to betray you to your enemies. Understand, marquis, and I place this information under the safeguard of your honor, that monsieur's name is Sciarra d'Alvimar." ”

“ La Flèche, being called upon to speak, since he had studied his chart sufficiently, indulged in some serious reflections. He was afraid of the Spaniard. He knew that he ran no risk with people who believed in nothing, for they are not the sort who denounce or accuse sorcerers; and he was too sharp not to understand that, when he tried to withdraw his token, D'Alvimar's object was to escape the revelations which he pretended to despise. ”

“ As for Mario, he understood what was taking place; but controlled and, as it were, fascinated by Mercedes's glance, he took refuge in stolid silence.
"You see," said D'Alvimar to the marquis, "he hangs his head and conceals his shame. Well, I know all I wish to know about them, and I leave you in this respectable society. There is no danger that they will unclench their teeth before a Spaniard, and they evidently know that I am one. There is an instinctive aversion between that degraded race and ours, so unerring that they scent our approach as wild game scents the approach of the hunter. ”

“ The music which helped to produce the tranquillity that he needed, now caused a feverish excitement in D'Alvimar.
He really hated Lucilio. He knew his baptismal name, which the marquis had let fall in his presence, and Monsieur Poulain, who was thoroughly posted in contemporary heresy, had divined from that circumstance that Jovelin was a free translation of Giovellino. The fact of his mutilation confirmed him in that suspicion, and he was already deliberating upon the means of making perfectly sure, and of stirring up some new persecution against him. ”

“ Certainly in those days it would have been impossible to find one gentleman in a thousand who would not have deemed himself possessed of the right to put to death by torture, or at least to order hanged before his eyes, a guilty wretch like D'Alvimar, and who would not have censured or ridiculed the excessively romantic sense of honor which Bois-Doré had displayed in his duel. ”

“ But tell me if the Spaniard finished his dying?"
"Monsieur d'Alvimar?" said Mario, beginning to understand Pilar's story, and no longer to look upon it as a dream.
"Yes, yes," said Macabre, "that dog of a Papist who turned my stomach with his prayers!"
"He died this morning."
"He did well, the lunatic! And what about Sancho? He's much more of a man; bigoted as he is, he understands matters. Where is he now?" ”

“ But D'Alvimar, tranquillized by the trivial nature of the predictions, did not retire; La Flèche had ceased to entertain any of the party, and was on the point of making a fiasco, after great preparations to reap a fine harvest.
They were about to dismiss him. He drew himself up.
"Illustrious noble lords," he said, "I am not a sorcerer, I swear it by the image of my patron saint which I wear upon my breast; I protest against any compact with the devil. I practise only white magic, permitted by the ecclesiastical authorities ”

“ Guillaume laughed.
"That is an amusing request," he said. "Advise this worthy woman, friend La Flèche, to pray for us without knowing our names. The good Lord knows us well, and we can tell him nothing about ourselves that he does not know better than we do."
La Flèche saluted humbly with his dirty cap, and our travellers, spurring their steeds, soon left the gypsies behind.
"By the way," said D'Alvimar to Guillaume, as the bell-tower of La Motte-Seuilly appeared on the horizon, "you have not told me where you are going. ”

“ There was nothing in the confused shadows which I saw to contradict these suppositions, and the one thing that I saw most clearly and distinctly was a crucifix as sharply outlined as the cross on an escutcheon, and under the right branch of that crucifix the emaciated, fleshless face of Monsieur d'Alvimar. The features seemed somewhat agitated at first, while a voice repeated the prayers for the dying ”

“ But the courtly marquis also stepped back.
"It is your right," he said; "a guest like yourself should take precedence of friends; but pray appreciate the sacrifice I make to you."
"I do appreciate it fully," replied D'Alvimar, as Lauriane placed her little hand lightly on his arm; "and of all your kindnesses to me, I value this most."
"I am rejoiced to see," replied Bois-Doré, walking at Madame de Beuvre's left hand, "that you understand French gallantry as did his late majesty, our Henri, of blessed memory." ”

“ He departed, having kissed the fair Lauriane's hand, pressed his good neighbor Monsieur de Beuvre's, and embraced D'Alvimar, swearing that he would return to Briantes before the end of the week to take him to his château of Ars, and keep him there as long as possible.
"Now," said Monsieur de Beuvre to D'Alvimar, "give the châtelaine your hand and let us to the table. Do not be surprised if we do not wait for our friend Bois-Doré. He is accustomed to spend an hour over his toilet, even when he has hunted less than fifteen minutes ”

“ Bois-Doré recognized him at once, although that side of the tower was only faintly lighted by the conflagration. But he had no loaded weapon, so he jumped down from his horse and returned to the archway to go up to the moucharabi, considering with good reason that D'Alvimar's avenger was the most formidable of all the enemies with whom he had ever had to deal. ”

“ We stand on no ceremony with him, and we should offend him by delaying our repast to await his coming."
"Should I not," said D'Alvimar, when he had been seated at the upper end of the table, "go and present my respects to Monsieur de Bois-Doré in his apartments, before taking my place at the table?"
"No," laughed Lauriane, "you would vex him terribly by surprising him at his toilet. Do not ask us why; you will understand for yourself as soon as you see him." ”

“ This instrument, the tone of which was as sweet and veiled as the bag-pipes of our own minstrels of to-day are noisy and shrill, was much in vogue, and before Master Jovelin had concluded his prelude, he had taken possession not only of the attention but of the very soul of his hearers; for he performed marvellously on the sourdeline, and made it sing like a human voice.
D'Alvimar was a connoisseur, and beautiful music possessed the power of making his natural melancholy less bitter than usual. ”